Almost Embarassing: Sixers Escape Raptors

by Michael Levin on Apr 8, 2011 6:59 PM PDT in Philadelphia 76ers Recaps

Well, the silver lining is that these Sixers will finish no lower than .500 for the season. Bad news is that this game was far too close, especially against a lowly Raptors team without Andrea Bargnani and Jose Calderon. Thaddeus Young and Elton Brand carried the team for the second straight game, scoring 42 points on 29 shots. It's natural to be a little concerned about Collins' rotations -- only 7 players played meaningful minutes (Antonio Daniels played 3:30), none of which were Marreese Speights, who had a career game against these Raptors in their last meeting.

We got some insight into Doug Collins' late game mentality without the services of Louis Williams. Andre Iguodala, as Doug said he would, had the ball in his hands up 3 with the shot clock winding down. He drove past DeMar DeRozan to get all the way to the cup, but missed what wasn't exactly an easy layup -- but certainly a makeable shot. Toronto got the ball back with 6 seconds left and opted for a fadeaway Jerryd Bayless three, which got absolutely none of the rim/net/backboard/basket apparatus. After Jrue Holiday hit a pair of free throws, the game was sealed in favor of the Sixers 98-93.

The Sixers took a 12 point lead into the half, but a patented third quarter collapse, which saw Bayless and DeRozan take over the world, cut the deficit to one going into the fourth. Reggie Evans and Ed Davis dominated the glass in the quarter, creating space for the young guards to attack the rim at will. But behind the savvy mid-range game of Brand, Philly kept Toronto at bay.

Jodie Meeks and Jrue Holiday had difficult games on both ends of the court. Neither guy was even remotely effective in covering Bayless and DeRozan, which they both did for long stretches of the night. Shooting from the field was mostly miserable as well, but Jrue went 7-7 from the line including two big foul shots to close it out. Holiday also dished out 11 assists, the 15th time this year he's notched double figures. They'll both need to be hitting shots if there's even a slim chance of advancing to the second round.
Brand and Young keep doing it. I wish they had more time off to rest, but they're killing it right now -- this team is a sinking ship without them.
Evan Turner assembled himself a nice little game in 30 minutes of court time. He limited mistakes, made a few really nice post moves, and continues to earn the trust of Doug Collins. Andres Nocioni was inactive tonight because Toronto is a young athletic team that doesn't match well with Noce's abilities. ET is finishing strong and will be in the playoff rotation regardless of Lou's health.
Jay Triano was ejected. That was fun.
Miami and Boston both won tonight, so they are on pace to collide for a deciding game this Sunday in South Beach. New York won as well -- things are just as up in the air as ever with the regular season dwindling. Stay tuned.

Games against the Raptors are usually ugly and this one was just that. Thankfully the Sixers held them off and came away with their 41st win of the season, snapping a 3-game losing streak in the process. With a win over Orlando or Detroit on Monday and Wednesday, respectively, Doug's group will be the first Sixers team over .500 since the '04-05 team.

~~Good~~ win. Happy Friday, peoples.

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ET is finishing strong and will be in the playoff rotation regardless of Lou’s health.

Is that from actual knowledge or merely conjecture?

by dweebowitz on Apr 8, 2011 7:19 PM PDT reply actions

With the way ET has played, Collins really has no choice. He can say he puts Noce out there for 3’s but Turner has hit as many 3’s as Noce has lately

by The Legend on Apr 8, 2011 7:22 PM PDT up reply actions

lol conjecture. But I think we can both agree that he has making good of his playing time, way better than with his limited spurts.

"They say that nobody is perfect. Then they tell you practice makes perfect. I wish they'd make up their minds." - Wilt Chamberlain

by soman319 on Apr 8, 2011 9:08 PM PDT up reply actions

Bill Green is trending on twitter whoever thought that would happen?

by The Legend on Apr 8, 2011 7:20 PM PDT reply actions

I have many agents on Twitter fulfilling my agenda.

Liberty Ballers / Ridiculous Upside / SBN Philly / Twitter

The Artist Formerly Known As The Artist Formerly Known As Michael Bourn

by Michael Levin on Apr 8, 2011 7:42 PM PDT up reply actions

Did Mo Speights shoot a jump shot?

by Chickenwingy85 on Apr 8, 2011 8:40 PM PDT reply actions

Jrue had 5 ugly turnovers, he and Jodie struggled shooting (again), Iguodala was amazing in the 4th. Thad and Elton continue to be the rocks of this team. We really need Lou back, because our back court is just too thin without him. But I’m glad ET has played well in his absence, and that should only help going forward.

by Matt3511 on Apr 8, 2011 10:27 PM PDT reply actions

Iguodala didn’t have an amazing fourth, he had a good segment or a stretch run. As a matter of fact, he didn’t have have a good “quarter”, it’s more like a few buckets.

Thad on the other hand had an amazing second half and in fact game. When will we stop kidding ourselves? The star forward is on our freaking bench. Thad’s defense has improved, his rebounding has improved. He’s a starter, certainly over a hobbled Iguodala and it’s debatable whether a healthy Iguodala is all that better than his injured counter part.

I can’t wait for the off-season that isn’t: Another Battie-esque signing, maybe Lou’s traded. But that’s all. We need a Pat Croce-esque guy to save this franchise.

by LeQuan Glover on Apr 9, 2011 10:52 AM PDT up reply actions

part of the beauty is the fact that he comes off the bench and single handedly makes it impossible for the opposing team to play small. Thad’s thriving in his role as a huge punch off the bench, why disturb that? His diversity is what makes him an ideal 6th man, an award he has an outside shot at getting this year. I think you can count on Thad being resigned this next offseason, hopefully not being overpaid. As for whether it’s debatable if a healthy Iguodala is marginally better than an injured Iguodala, please give some insight into that statement as it makes no sense to me.

by prideoux on Apr 9, 2011 11:29 AM PDT up reply actions

You cant give insight to his igoudala statement. It’s made up. He’s basically been playing injured the whole season. The only thing you could do, i guess, would be to average his stats from the first game where he came out to the media about his knee to now and compare them to his averages from the rest of the season (not taking into consideration his achilles issue).

But anyway, the truth of the matter is SFs dont need to rebound, defend, and facillitate. They only need to score. So that’s why Thad should start over him. Did I get that right, lequan?

"I admire his competitiveness. As much as I admire it, I thought that he was trying too hard."- Eddie Jordan

by jefu on Apr 9, 2011 12:35 PM PDT via mobile up reply actions

LeQuan just makes absurd statements from time to time. Thad Young doesn’t have Iguodala’s dribbling or passing skills. He’s not really able to create his own shot, but he is able to drive to the basket exceptionally well.

This is why Andre is a better player, even if he doesn’t always match Young’s scoring. He does a lot more for the team than Thad can do, and without Lou, Andre is the only one Doug can trust. Even Jrue Holiday makes poor decisions at the end of the game.

I didn’t have a real problem with this game, the Sixers were in control most of the way, and were up by 8 at the 2 minute mark. Their inability to run a play in the last 2 minutes was the only thing that bothered me. It should bother Doug even more, if they go cold like that in the playoffs they’re going to lose.

The seedings in the playoffs are in Boston’s control, they can choose to play the Sixers or Knicks. They play Miaimi and will play the Knicks in the final game of the season.

by RickoT on Apr 9, 2011 1:27 PM PDT up reply actions

You got it. Versatility for small forwards suck!

by jrb5094 on Apr 9, 2011 3:05 PM PDT up reply actions

He had an and-1 to start the quarter, hit a 3, had an amazing block on Evans, had a couple rebounds and 2 other baskets. 9 points overall and made clutch plays down the stretch. He had a very good 4th quarter. Only blemishes were 2 missed FT and a couple missed shots. IDK what game you were watching.

by Matt3511 on Apr 9, 2011 12:53 PM PDT up reply actions